The Osun State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has tasked the state Governor Ademola Adeleke to come out clean on the raging issue of the N297 million Osun State University (UNIOSUN) Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND) contract scam involving his Chief of Staff, Alhaji Kazeem Akinleye, describing the justification of the governor as mere diversionary meant to confuse the right-thinking members of the society.
Akinleye was accused of using his office and affinity to corner N297 million UNIOSUN TETFUND contract for his company, AKINSAS INTERBIZ LIMITED.
In a swift defence rationalizing the morally repugnant transaction, Governor Adeleke painted the allegation as 'malicious, falsehood (sic) and an attempt to cause public disorder'.
In view of the foregoing, we state that such a reckless stance of the governor, to the effect that an innocuous demand for accountability and probity from public officer is seditious and capable of causing 'public disorder,' is not only distasteful but also unpatriotic and pedestrian.
The allegation against Mr Akinleye is weighty and so grievous that a decent and responsible governor would not wait to be prodded before he takes action of handing such an embattled Chief of Staff over to the Code of Conduct Bureau or Independent Corrupt Practices & Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) for proper investigation.
The governor's explainer that Akinleye is not culpable because he is not a member of the UNIOSUN Governing Council or a member of the board of directors of TETFUND is spurious just as it is vacuous.
Does it mean the governor himself can deploy the instrumentality of his office to curry favour or contract for his company in the state-owned institutions under a pretext that he resigned his directorship on assumption of office?
The drafters of the law did not envisage that a public officer would resign his or her interest in a company only for such a business entity to land mouth-watering contracts in the state where the founder of the company is a key policy maker and administrator.
While we hold that Akinkas Interbiz Limited is at liberty to bid for contracts in any public institutions in the country, despite the current status of its founder, it becomes inappropriate if such business activities include hustling for contracts in state-owned institutions in Osun, where Mr Kazeem Akinleye is the Alpha and Omega and the de facto governor.
We appeal to the discerning members of the public, particularly members of the civil liberty organisations in Osun State, to press it on Governor Adeleke, if he is not an accessory to the emerging scandal, to, without further delay, hand Akinleye over to the Code of Conduct Bureau for probing and necessary prosecution.
e-SIGNED:
Chief KOLA OLABISI,
Director of Media and Information,
Osun State APC .
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